A Wombling Way or Orinoco Drive could celebrate the children’s author who put Wimbledon on the map.

A spokesman for Merton Council said the authority was considering naming one of the next roads built in the borough after Elisabeth Beresford – whose iconic Wombles made Wimbledon Common famous.

Tributes have been paid to the writer, who died of heart failure, aged 84, last month.

Tom Walsh, co-ordinator of environmental group Sustainable Merton, praised Beresford and said awareness of green issues had come on “leaps and bounds” since she wrote the stories.

He said: “I think it was a clever way of getting the message across that wasn’t invasive.”

Beresford came up with the characters after a Boxing Day walk with her children on Wimbledon Common – which they pronounced “Wombledon”.

She wrote her first book featuring her creations in 1968, after working as a journalist and ghostwriter.

The stories were republished with new illustrations in November.

Beresford was made an MBE for services to children’s literature in 1998, and died near her home in the Channel Islands on Christmas Eve last year.

In a blog post, days after Beresford’s death, musician Mike Batt, who had a string of hits as the lead singer of the Wombles pop group, revealed he had recently been in discussions with her children Marcus and Kate about reviving the characters.

He said: “I know Marcus would particularly have liked his mum to have seen the new, high quality incarnation of the Wombles, and to have shared in the fun.”

Fans leaving online tributes to the author included Dean Parsons – the man who plays the role of mascot Haydon the Womble at AFC Wimbledon’s home matches.